Winter Wrap-Up




Winter
Wrap-Up

Florida doesn't get much winter. Okay, so Florida wouldn't have snowy pictures like what's shown above. We don't build snowmans here and any snowball fights would be from something artificial. Still, I like to think of winter as ice, snow, hot cocoa, warm fireplaces, and chilly weather, so my pictures will reflect the typical season signature.


The great things about Winter is the family gets to come together for Christmas. It's also fun to do Christmas shopping with a person's interests in mind, the emphasis on holiday music (this can get old after awhile but is enjoyable in short duration), you get the school and work holidays, parties, celebrations, Christmas cookies and candies, Christmas movies, Christmas concerts, you name it. Winter is fun because of Christmas, snow, time off, and holiday festivity. It's also fun because you get to whip out the warmer clothing you don't wear the rest of the year (at least around here) and not have to rely so much on the air conditioner. I save more money on the electric bill in Winter.

What do you think of when you think of summer? I think of my mom baking her delicious cookies and candies, decorating the tree, watching It's a Wonderful life, taking plenty of pictures, and spending time with family. This year the tree was fun to decorate but I think in future years I need to get more theme-orientated and go more all out than I have been. Just wasn't as in the mood this year to decorate - did it earlier than normal, and also was ready to take it down earlier than normal.




2013/2014 Winter Reading Environment

Every season shares its moments for reading change.

In the winter I still read on the porch if it's not too chilly (some winters it really can be chilly for us Floridians) and spend more time in the tub with a hot bubble bath reading by candlelight and a housecoat waiting nearby.

This year my mom bought me an electric fireplace - it may not be the real thing, but it was still cool and I like seeing the calming flames even if it's not real flames. It has the heater feature which was nice when the living room was cold too. I overdid it one night and got some laughs when my mom and aunt surprised me by coming over - I had a thrown blanket on my mini recliner by the electric fireplace turned on, with rainymood.com on my computer with a thunderstorm going as background noise, and a little water fountain on the table by me. Mood reading/setting is me!

Do your reading environments change much by season?



Winter Read-A-Thons

I didn't participate in many read-a-thons for the Winter season. There really aren't as many and for the ones that exist, I just didn't participate as much as I could have. December is especially such a busy month.









The End of The Year survey (hosted by Perpetual Page Turner) is SO fun and helps wrap up the entire year of reading and blogging.




Personal Library Changes

Winter wrap-up is confusing because it's blending the wrap-up of the previous year with the wrap-up for the first two months of the new year. Strange!

Winter doesn't technically start Dec 1 and end the last day of February, but this makes the tracking easier to assume it does for wrapping it  up.
Books Read: Total 32 Books

December: 8
January: 13
February: 11

New Books Added to Library: Total 131 Books

December: 71
January: 36
February: 24

Favorite Reads of the Winter:
  • Faefever Series by Karen Marie Moning
  • Frostburned by Patricia Briggs
  • Gone with The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • Big Money by Jack Getze
  • Murder on the Orient Expresso by Sandra Balzo
  • Fury of the Demon by Diana Rowland
  • Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
  • The Wind Raider by Richard Finney 

Total Reviews Written - 48


Luscious Cravings by Cameron Dean 
Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan
Lori by Robert Bloch
Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance
Embrace the Night by Karen Chance
Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance
Night Shift by Stephen King
Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland
Blood of the Demon by Diana Rowland
Secrets of the Demon by Diana Rowland
Sins of the Demon by Diana Rowland
The Devil Inside by Jenna Black
The Devil you Know by Jenna Black
The Devil's Due by Jenna Black
Speak of the Devil by Jenna Black
The Devil's Playground by Jenna Black
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King
Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
Song of Susannah by Stephen King
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
The Drawing of the three by Stephen King
The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Tempt the Stars by Karen Chance
My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding anthology
Hero Worship by Christopher Long
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Inspector and Mrs Jeffries
Rabid
The Wind Raider by Richard Finney
Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance
Once upon a nervous breakdown by Patrick Sanchez
I just want my pants back
Still me by Christopher Reeve
Working for the devil by Lilith Saintcrow
Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow
The Devil's Right Hand by Lilith Saintcrow
Saint City Sinners by Lilith Saintcrow
To Hell and Back by Lilith Saintcrow
Those Who Save us by Jenna Black
IT By Stephen King
Exiles Reviews - 5 Graphic Novels
The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison




Looking at the stats for the weeklies, definitely wasn't consistent/busy with these over the winter either!

Mailbox Mondays - 5
Tune-In Tuesdays - 7
Top Ten Tuesdays - 6
Booking Through Thursdays - 1
Sunday Salon - 5
Life of a Blogger - 4